Den 15 mars avled i Los Angeles 108-årige Sgt.
Joe Harris, sannolikt den äldste kvarlevande fallskärmssoldaten från kriget. Han ingick i 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, även kallad
the Triple Nickles, som bestod av enbart svarta soldater. Han och hans enhet sattes 1944-45 in i strängt sekretssbelagda
Operation Firefly - det vill släckandet av de bränder, som japanska ballonger vållade i skogarna på Stillahavskusten. Deras insats bidrg till att segregeringen av de väpnade styrkorna upphörde.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFeWiqQBUXE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5Gmr5Ydjf4
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/30/u...rris-dead.html
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/04/05/u...ers/index.html
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/y...oper-has-died/In 1944 and 1945, the Japanese launched thousands of balloons to be carried by the Pacific jet stream to the U.S. mainland to explode and start fires.
During World War II, Black Americans were often relegated to more support-level jobs in the racially segregated military and President Franklin Roosevelt faced pressure to put them in combat units. As a result, the military recruited Harris and hundreds of other Black men, trained them and sent them into blazes on the West Coast, where they fought fires, Bartlett said.
Throughout their time in the military, they faced overt racism, including being barred from going to the base commissary and officer’s clubs unless they were specifically for Black people.
Harris gjorde totalt 72 fallskärmshopp. När freden kommit tjänstgjorde han inom gränsbevakningen.
Congratulations on earning your second set of Wings Mr Harris!
I Buenos Aires avled den 17 april 107-årige
Ronald David (Ronnie) Scott, argentinsk veteran av brittisk börd, som 1942-45 tjänstgjorde som Spitfire-pilot i Fleet Air Arm. Senare blev han trafikflygare och flög bland annat DC-3, Comet 4 och Boeing 737. Han samlade på sig 23.000 flygtimmar innan han gick i pension 1978.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Scott_(aviator)
https://www.batimes.com.ar/news/arge...aged-107.phtml
https://www.aviacionline.com/last-ar...ii-dies-at-107
https://www.clarin.com/sociedad/107-...BTMWpZ71q.html